Need information about New Orleans teaching jobs? Here’s where to find it

Posted Dec 3, 2018

CHRIS GRANGER

Élan Academy Charter school 2nd-grade teacher Jacquelin Miller gives a high five to one of her students during reading studies in Algiers on Thursday, September 14, 2017. (Photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Educators interested in teaching New Orleans children now have a centralized website to help them find a public school job. In collaboration with the Orleans Parish School Board, New Schools for New Orleans Monday (Dec. 3) launched TeachNewOrleans.net.

TeachNewOrleans.net provides information on unfilled positions in New Orleans public schools, as well as details on each school or network in the city. The website offers a “resume drop” for teachers to share their information with multiple schools at once. The website was created in response to the need to fill an annual shortage of 900 teachers citywide.

Normally, teachers within a traditional public school district can visit the district’s website to learn about teaching vacancies, but that’s not the case for a decentralized system like New Orleans. More than 90 percent of New Orleans' 48,000 public school students attend one of 87 schools run by a charter network. The OPSB oversees public schools, but it directly runs only two.

“It’s too confusing to enter the teaching profession in New Orleans whether you’re a new teacher or you’re an experienced teacher,” Alex Jarrell, chief innovation officer for New Schools for New Orleans, said by phone Monday morning.

Jarrell said they polled more than 600 prospective and current teachers to learn “it’s impossible right now to navigate” through all of the different charter schools and networks to find a job teaching. With this in mind, Jarrell said the website will give teachers more agency in finding the school that matches their vision, needs, and values.

Jarrell also said the website gives the city an opportunity to bring in more “smart, great teachers” for the city’s students. The website cites New Orleans’ diversity of festivals, food and language as benefits for living in New Orleans.

Additionally, Jarrell said they’re collecting “discounts and perks” from restaurants, gyms and other businesses for teachers in support of those educators. The website was lauded by OPSB Superintendent Henderson Lewis, Jr. in a released statement Monday.

“By featuring training and certification programs, the site serves another critical purpose: helping to prepare the next generation of our city’s great educators,” Lewis stated.

TeachNewOrleans.net is one part of New Schools for New Orleans’ strategy to help attract and retain more teachers for roles in New Orleans public schools. The organization is working with Xavier University of Louisiana on a $13 million federal grant in an effort to train and recruit diverse teachers.